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Construction Competition for Hands-on Experience and Scholarships : Every year students across California compete against other schools in the Construction Industry Education Foundation (CIEF) Design Build Competition to promote career awareness of the construction industry among high school students. The competition provides an opportunity for students to gain firsthand knowledge of the construction industry and have hands-on experience in the construction process.
As many schools are planning to be on campus in a limited capacity or hybrid model for the spring semester – and field trips will not be a possibility – CIEF decided to take the Design Build Competition to the high school campuses and judge the competition online via Inspected. To keep students safe and social distancing in place, judges will use Inspected to open a video conferencing dialogue with the school administrators to review the structure, ask questions, record photos and videos, and determine the winner. During the week of April 26, judging will take place, with a winner being announced the week of May 3.
Each team in the competition will be challenged to design and prepare construction documents according to criteria outlined by CIEF and build their structure at their school site or other designated location. Participating student teams will be judged on the completion of design, plan review (if applicable), safety and health adherence, and construction phases of a structure.
CIEF will provide all construction materials listed on the materials list, arrange for the delivery of building materials to the school site and judge the Competition. Schools competing in the Open Competition will be responsible for any additional items they would like to incorporate in their structure beyond the provided materials list. Gift cards to purchase at-home building materials and free online OSHA 10 Training is available for students competing from home. The mission is to help instructors and students to keep building in whatever manner they can this spring.
In addition to bragging rights, a limited number of scholarships will be awarded to 2021 Design Build participants who are seniors graduating in the spring of 2021 and will be pursuing a career in the built environment. This includes apprenticeship programs, two- and four-year colleges or universities and trades schools.
Written by: Cristoina Diaconu
